Jim_Callahan:Um... why? Conversion from one digital format to another doesn't actually add any definition (well, unless you want to potentially add artefacts to the picture with predicative processing). Once you've gone from VHS to DVD you've done all the converting you need, modern players have to trouble reading DVDs as well as HD formats and there's no reason they'd ever lose that capability so long as we're using circular optical media in general.

//If they mean "upgrading" in the sense of "buying a remastered version in the new format", I guess that makes slightly more sense. I remember we used to have two versions of the moon landing tapes, on VHS and on DVD, because the original film stock has ridiculous clarity that wasn't really reflected on the newsreel copy they used for the VHS version.

most HD remasters of old stuff go back to the original 35mm and do a trasnfer there.. so yeah you're seeing better res

but most people don't bother to rebuy most of their movies. i did it for like.. one.

What I still don't get about downloading movies is where are the extras? Like interactive menus, making of documentaries, commentaries, things like that. I guess most people don't care about that stuff but film geeks do.

Kazan:Jim_Callahan: Um... why? Conversion from one digital format to another doesn't actually add any definition (well, unless you want to potentially add artefacts to the picture with predicative processing). Once you've gone from VHS to DVD you've done all the converting you need, modern players have to trouble reading DVDs as well as HD formats and there's no reason they'd ever lose that capability so long as we're using circular optical media in general.

//If they mean "upgrading" in the sense of "buying a remastered version in the new format", I guess that makes slightly more sense. I remember we used to have two versions of the moon landing tapes, on VHS and on DVD, because the original film stock has ridiculous clarity that wasn't really reflected on the newsreel copy they used for the VHS version.

most HD remasters of old stuff go back to the original 35mm and do a trasnfer there.. so yeah you're seeing better res

but most people don't bother to rebuy most of their movies. i did it for like.. one.

The other problem is that most TV shows would never be worth upgrading even if they did come out on bluray, because videotaped shows would never look any better, the companies would stupidly tilt and scan their filmed shows so they filled the whole screen (because people is skeered of them mean ol' black bars on the sides of the screen), and TV on DVD is already a niche market, and going HD wouldn't make a profit for the studios.

Parallax:Someone wanna clear this up for me? I thought UltraHD is the 2,048 pixel height, and 4K is (as the name suggests) a next-next-gen 4,000-odd pixel height. Are they actually one and the same, and if so, why is it 4K and not 2K?

It's 3940x2160, twice the height and twice the width. Four times the pixels. And 3940 pixels wide is pretty close to 4,000.

Just wait until next year when Amazon rips the DVD you buy and stores it in the cloud for you.

I've been ripping and storing DVDs and Blu-Rays I get for 13 years or so. There's still a point to physical media as a distribution mechanism, but I think it's silly to actually WATCH content from the stupid things.

Mugato:What I still don't get about downloading movies is where are the extras? Like interactive menus, making of documentaries, commentaries, things like that. I guess most people don't care about that stuff but film geeks do.

Personally, I can think of a handful of movies where the extras are worth anything at all.

Electromax:If you are interested in remastering/restoring old movies for HD, a couple more interesting recent cases:

Restoring the GodfatherHarmy's "Despecialized" Star Wars OT (Removed the 1997 effects but remastered to extremely high quality, closest you'll get to the original 1977 print until LucasDISNEY does a remaster)

And with Disney in charge now, I'd bet you stand a damn good chance of seeing it happen.

FirstNationalBastard:Mugato: What I still don't get about downloading movies is where are the extras? Like interactive menus, making of documentaries, commentaries, things like that. I guess most people don't care about that stuff but film geeks do.

Personally, I can think of a handful of movies where the extras are worth anything at all.

/UHF: Best commentary ever.

Of all the DVDs I had, when I was digitizing them I had a little binder where I would put any bonus discs/other stuff I didn't want to rip but thought I might watch. For about 400 DVDs, the final set in the binder of "hold ons" was pretty small. The ones I can remember were:

The 3-hour documentaries about the Star Wars series and Indiana Jones seriesJames Cameron's fantastic commentary for Aliens and T2The crapload of design docs from the LotR box sets

...that was about it. Most special making ofs I watch once and that's enough (and most are pretty light/predictable too, like Avengers) and most commentaries aren't worth much. Cameron is interesting to listen to though, if there are other good director ones I would be interested.

Commentaries suck that are just "hey it was really hot on this day we filmed this bit"

Mugato:What I still don't get about downloading movies is where are the extras? Like interactive menus, making of documentaries, commentaries, things like that. I guess most people don't care about that stuff but film geeks do.

Depends on the movie. When I rip, I grab the full soundtrack, any commentary tracks and all the subtitles that are present on the disc. I'm capable of grabbing extras or preserving the entire disc structure, but it's really not worth the hassle for stuff I may or may not care about. Anyone who is ripping movies is just as capable of doing that stuff. They generally choose not to, in order to keep data transmission costs down and preserve compatibility of their output file with the largest group of playback devices or software.

FirstNationalBastard:The other problem is that most TV shows would never be worth upgrading even if they did come out on bluray, because videotaped shows would never look any better, the companies would stupidly tilt and scan their filmed shows so they filled the whole screen (because people is skeered of them mean ol' black bars on the sides of the screen), and TV on DVD is already a niche market, and going HD wouldn't make a profit for the studios.

IIRC most 35mm recordings were already wider than 16:9.. so they just same a best-fit 16:9 region of the film..

FirstNationalBastard:The other problem is that most TV shows would never be worth upgrading even if they did come out on bluray, because videotaped shows would never look any better, the companies would stupidly tilt and scan their filmed shows so they filled the whole screen (because people is skeered of them mean ol' black bars on the sides of the screen), and TV on DVD is already a niche market, and going HD wouldn't make a profit for the studios.

I'm still trying to figure out why the fark Friends is getting a Blu-Ray release.

FirstNationalBastard:Personally, I can think of a handful of movies where the extras are worth anything at all.

/UHF: Best commentary ever.

I see your UHF and raise you Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog, featuring Commentary: The Musical.

Electromax:FirstNationalBastard: Mugato: What I still don't get about downloading movies is where are the extras? Like interactive menus, making of documentaries, commentaries, things like that. I guess most people don't care about that stuff but film geeks do.

Personally, I can think of a handful of movies where the extras are worth anything at all.

/UHF: Best commentary ever.

Of all the DVDs I had, when I was digitizing them I had a little binder where I would put any bonus discs/other stuff I didn't want to rip but thought I might watch. For about 400 DVDs, the final set in the binder of "hold ons" was pretty small. The ones I can remember were:

The 3-hour documentaries about the Star Wars series and Indiana Jones seriesJames Cameron's fantastic commentary for Aliens and T2The crapload of design docs from the LotR box sets

...that was about it. Most special making ofs I watch once and that's enough (and most are pretty light/predictable too, like Avengers) and most commentaries aren't worth much. Cameron is interesting to listen to though, if there are other good director ones I would be interested.

Commentaries suck that are just "hey it was really hot on this day we filmed this bit"

I've found that if Robert A. Harris is involved with restoring a movie and is part of the commentary track for it, the commentary will turn out to be pretty damn interesting.

NewWorldDan:I ripped all my DVDs to MP4 and watch them over the network. Blu-ray might be better, but not enough for me to care. And certainly not enough to pay an extra $7 per disc.

This!

I abandoned physical media by choice years ago. I buy the occasional bluray just to make sure I still financially support the media I like the most, but the discs just sit unopened on a bookshelf.

The experience is VASTLY improved. I watch everything on PC's connected to my TV's, on my gaming PC or on my android devices (thanks to Plex). Fewer commercials, on demand when I want to watch things and all organized nicely on my home fileserver. And when the new Arrested Development comes out I'll add Netflix.

I resisted buying a BR player for the sole fact that I would get sucked into buying all my DVDs in BR format. When I scored a deal on the Brave 5-disc set for $8 and The Dark Knight Rises set for $11 I set out looking for a BR player and got a refurb unit for $30. My worst fears came true and I already have 30 BRs in a span of 2 weeks.

But one thing I will say that I have 0 regrets about getting a player or any BR disc. I however refuse to pay more than $6-7 for a BR and Amazon's triple feature BR for $10 are quite amazing. Even my 70 yr old father in law who moans and groans about technology was super impressed by the playback clarity of the movies. I found a way to rip movies on my hard drive and now need to find a good way to rip them to stream on the Roku 2 XS.

roflmaonow:I found a way to rip movies on my hard drive and now need to find a good way to rip them to stream on the Roku 2 XS.

I do believe that current generation Roku boxes support talking to Plex, which runs on damned near everything. There are better tools for dealing with local content - I prefer devices that can natively play files rather than having to stream and accept transcoded audio and video, but that's your call.

likefunbutnot:roflmaonow: I found a way to rip movies on my hard drive and now need to find a good way to rip them to stream on the Roku 2 XS.

I do believe that current generation Roku boxes support talking to Plex, which runs on damned near everything. There are better tools for dealing with local content - I prefer devices that can natively play files rather than having to stream and accept transcoded audio and video, but that's your call.

I LOVE Plex and so does my wife and I've made it very easy for her to just watch all our movies using it. I've managed to rip my Blu-ray movies in a couple of different formats and codecs and the results have been not bad but I understand that it can appear as close to the source and thats what I'm striving for.

likefunbutnot:roflmaonow: I found a way to rip movies on my hard drive and now need to find a good way to rip them to stream on the Roku 2 XS.

I do believe that current generation Roku boxes support talking to Plex, which runs on damned near everything. There are better tools for dealing with local content - I prefer devices that can natively play files rather than having to stream and accept transcoded audio and video, but that's your call.

Got my parents a Roku HD (IIRC) for Xmas and help them set up Netflix and Plex, I can confirm this works. Plex should auto-transcode files for you that aren't natively supported.

roflmaonow:I LOVE Plex and so does my wife and I've made it very easy for her to just watch all our movies using it. I've managed to rip my Blu-ray movies in a couple of different formats and codecs and the results have been not bad but I understand that it can appear as close to the source and thats what I'm striving for.

The problem I have with streaming media servers like that is that they tend to transcode away audio fidelity. DLNA specifies that audio is delivered in as stereo, modest bit-rate MP3. Which royally blows if you've taken the time to preserve DTS-MA and your client device is plugged in to something that's fully capable of decoding that sort of audio stream.

That's why I usually suggest that people look at using a real computer for a set-top box or at least something that has a decent CPU and set of up to date codecs, like a Popcorn Hour or Boxee player. My favorite little box is the LG Smart TV updater, which has a truly horrific user interface, but it sells for under $50 and seems to support every damned thing you throw at it. It'll speak NFS or SMB to a file server so it can open a 2560x1600 .MKV and scale it appropriately for a TV.

Electromax:likefunbutnot: roflmaonow: I found a way to rip movies on my hard drive and now need to find a good way to rip them to stream on the Roku 2 XS.

I do believe that current generation Roku boxes support talking to Plex, which runs on damned near everything. There are better tools for dealing with local content - I prefer devices that can natively play files rather than having to stream and accept transcoded audio and video, but that's your call.

Got my parents a Roku HD (IIRC) for Xmas and help them set up Netflix and Plex, I can confirm this works. Plex should auto-transcode files for you that aren't natively supported.

That reminded me that Plex does transcode them on the fly and I'll see how that works out, I should clarify that I'm seeking out the best close to the source display without it being a 40 GB file. While my network should be able to handle large amounts of data streaming I'd rather use it play something with a smaller amount of data streaming if that makes any sense.

roflmaonow:That reminded me that Plex does transcode them on the fly and I'll see how that works out, I should clarify that I'm seeking out the best close to the source display without it being a 40 GB file. While my network should be able to handle large amounts of data streaming I'd rather use it play something with a smaller amount of data streaming if that makes any sense.

I use a combination of AnyDVD-HD and Handbrake to transcode stuff. Depending on my interest in the material, I can get a 5GB - 15GB file as output. That's completely fine. Handbrake is incredibly script-able and supports batch operations, so it's very easy to set it and forget it.

With the size of my TV 42" and the layout of my living room (~8 feet from TV to couch) the difference between DVD and Blu-ray is virtually indistinguishable. I remember buying my first blu-ray and thinking 'meh'. I had to pull the couch closer to the TV before I could appreciate a difference. A computer monitor would have been vastly better.

It turns out it's not just my imagination....So, until I pick up a 70" TV - I'm good. At truthfully, if I had a 70" TV I'd probably want to be more than 8 feet away from it.

I tested and compare the difference between HD and standard DVD resolution and didn't see enough of a difference to be worth the 4x (+) larger file size, so I continued getting my stuff in regular resolution and am quite fine with it.

likefunbutnot:roflmaonow: That reminded me that Plex does transcode them on the fly and I'll see how that works out, I should clarify that I'm seeking out the best close to the source display without it being a 40 GB file. While my network should be able to handle large amounts of data streaming I'd rather use it play something with a smaller amount of data streaming if that makes any sense.

I use a combination of AnyDVD-HD and Handbrake to transcode stuff. Depending on my interest in the material, I can get a 5GB - 15GB file as output. That's completely fine. Handbrake is incredibly script-able and supports batch operations, so it's very easy to set it and forget it.

Its kinda odd Handbrake for me craps out at the very end of the 2 hr transcoding process. I've tried several blu-ray rips and every single time right at the end it errors out and makes the file unplayable. This is after I rip using DVDFab which takes about 30-40 mins to rip a full BR.

I stopped using DVDFab after discovering that MakeMKV on my computer rips a full BR in 20 mins. Never could figure that out. I use the mkv file and then convert it to different formats and sizes using FormatFactory. FF might not be the best tool to do the conversion as I always ripped my DVDs using Handbrake (would take 6-8 mins) and looked as good as the original.

roflmaonow:Its kinda odd Handbrake for me craps out at the very end of the 2 hr transcoding process.

I have no idea what your issue is. I can't say I've ever had Handbrake crash or cause a crash for me. I grab new nightly builds periodically. Maybe there's a bugfix that addresses whatever the hell your issue might be.

likefunbutnot:roflmaonow: I LOVE Plex and so does my wife and I've made it very easy for her to just watch all our movies using it. I've managed to rip my Blu-ray movies in a couple of different formats and codecs and the results have been not bad but I understand that it can appear as close to the source and thats what I'm striving for.

The problem I have with streaming media servers like that is that they tend to transcode away audio fidelity. DLNA specifies that audio is delivered in as stereo, modest bit-rate MP3. Which royally blows if you've taken the time to preserve DTS-MA and your client device is plugged in to something that's fully capable of decoding that sort of audio stream.

Agreed, after only recently paying attention to DTS-MA, I'm floored by the difference between that and just regular stereo output. I got a very basic Sony soundbar and the sound output is vastly superior on any audio track using DTS-MA. Dolby TrueHD though is supposed to be very similar oddly sounds like a step back to my ears.

Electromax:FirstNationalBastard: Mugato: What I still don't get about downloading movies is where are the extras? Like interactive menus, making of documentaries, commentaries, things like that. I guess most people don't care about that stuff but film geeks do.

Personally, I can think of a handful of movies where the extras are worth anything at all.

/UHF: Best commentary ever.

Of all the DVDs I had, when I was digitizing them I had a little binder where I would put any bonus discs/other stuff I didn't want to rip but thought I might watch. For about 400 DVDs, the final set in the binder of "hold ons" was pretty small. The ones I can remember were:

The 3-hour documentaries about the Star Wars series and Indiana Jones seriesJames Cameron's fantastic commentary for Aliens and T2The crapload of design docs from the LotR box sets

...that was about it. Most special making ofs I watch once and that's enough (and most are pretty light/predictable too, like Avengers) and most commentaries aren't worth much. Cameron is interesting to listen to though, if there are other good director ones I would be interested.

Commentaries suck that are just "hey it was really hot on this day we filmed this bit"

No idea why but I love David Fincher's commentaries. I can listen to that man talk for hours and never get bored. His solo commentaries plus the ones with the cast are always fun to listen to. I'm not even a Film student but the stuff he talks sounds interesting.

With the size of my TV 42" and the layout of my living room (~8 feet from TV to couch) the difference between DVD and Blu-ray is virtually indistinguishable. I remember buying my first blu-ray and thinking 'meh'. I had to pull the couch closer to the TV before I could appreciate a difference. A computer monitor would have been vastly better.

It turns out it's not just my imagination....[www.blogcdn.com image 850x580]So, until I pick up a 70" TV - I'm good. At truthfully, if I had a 70" TV I'd probably want to be more than 8 feet away from it.

And that chart is why UHD/4k in the home is utterly useless. 4k is great for movie theaters; I saw Prometheus in 4k in the theater last summer and it was one of the best-looking movies I've ever seen in a theater (despite the spectacular flaws in the script, the cinematography & production design were amazing). On those enormous screens, 1080p and 2k just isn't quite enough.

In the home though, 1080p is more than enough for almost everyone. The human eye can't even discern the full difference between 720p and 1080p unless you're unreasonably close or have an unreasonably large TV.

Recently saw Zero Dark Thirty in a theater and thought that the resolution was a bit off (was expecting a 4k display) sure enough after watching the movie and digging up the specs at the theater, they had a 2k display. Glad I thought I wasn't blind and could spot the difference.

I also agree about Prometheus, the movie looks visually stunning on a 4k display albeit I saw it in 3D.

Mugato:I don't understand how you can get all the extras on a film that you download

Its rare but Netflix streaming does have extras. I think I've seen it only once (I generally watch only documentaries and music... just not a movie buff). I believe it was a Jethro Tull concert DVD I streamed.

roflmaonow:No idea why but I love David Fincher's commentaries. I can listen to that man talk for hours and never get bored. His solo commentaries plus the ones with the cast are always fun to listen to. I'm not even a Film student but the stuff he talks sounds interesting.

Speaking of Fincher, the Fight Club commentary with Ed Norton and Brad Pitt was great. There was also a pretty cool segment on the CGI in the film. And apparently the "YOUR dildo" guy is a good friend of all of them.

FirstNationalBastard:Did anyone really go all out and upgrade to Blu ray, except your hardcore people who insist on having the newest toys?

They hardly released anything beyond new films in the format. It's already pretty much leveled off.

Regular DVD is still the go-to format for now. Eventually, it'll all be Downloads. But blu is nothing more than the new Millennium's laser disc.

I got a blu-ray player a couple years ago...but it was basically a perfect storm of things coming together.

1. They were on sale for like $100-$120 and only marginally more expensive than a decent DVD player.2. It was a Christmas gift3. I had recently got netflix and blu-ray players had started adding in the ability to watch netflix from the dvd player4. wife wanted a DVD player for the second TV, so we needed another DVD player anyway5. I was (and still am) in the process of creating a home theater/"man cave"...Figued I might as add a blueray player.

So, run out to buy one? No. but I did get one. And I am happy with it.

Mugato:roflmaonow: No idea why but I love David Fincher's commentaries. I can listen to that man talk for hours and never get bored. His solo commentaries plus the ones with the cast are always fun to listen to. I'm not even a Film student but the stuff he talks sounds interesting.

Speaking of Fincher, the Fight Club commentary with Ed Norton and Brad Pitt was great. There was also a pretty cool segment on the CGI in the film. And apparently the "YOUR dildo" guy is a good friend of all of them.

I'm a huge Fincher fan, I have all his movies except The Game on special edition DVDs. I've watched all the extras and commentaries on them all, I think the Fight Club commentary is probably the best one though the one in Seven is excellent as well.

The only stuff that I actually ripped VIDEO_TS folders of the disc structure rather than converting the main video to mp4 and leaving the rest, was all 9 seasons of Seinfeld. Took a while too, I used a program called BDLot to rip the discs and DVD Shrink to compress them, it was like ~3.5 GB per disc. We watch the show often enough (still) that I miss the Notes about Nothing subtitle track without it, which is sort of a trivia thing and pretty interesting. Never really checked out many of the special features though, except for the 5 minute bits about the classic episodes.

I'll have to check out Apollo 13. I think the only Fincher movies I have are Alien 3 (also probably has a commentary, it's from the same packaging as Aliens and Alien which had Cameron and Scott) and Seven, not a big fan of the latter or Fight Club but I'll have to check out Alien 3 for it later. I'll watch those movies with any excuse.

Electromax:I think the only Fincher movies I have are Alien 3 (also probably has a commentary, it's from the same packaging as Aliens and Alien which had Cameron and Scott) and Seven, not a big fan of the latter or Fight Club but I'll have to check out Alien 3 for it later. I'll watch those movies with any excuse.

From what I gather Fincher didn't do a commentary for that movie, I think he still disowns it as his creation even the 'assembled cut'. The first two are amazing movies which I too can watch anytime. The 3rd one isn't bad, the 4th one is atrocious.